It is a scandal that has shocked many beyond the borders of Kansas City, where a senior white policeman allegedly carried out a reign of terror in which he brutally abused and sexually assaulted vulnerable Black women.

An appalling set of allegations against former Kansas City, Kansas police department detective Roger Golubski has lifted the lid on a scheme where he is alleged to have protected local drug dealers in the midwestern city, who then allowed him to rape women forced to work as prostitutes.

Golubski, 69, spent 35 years in the police department and worked as a detective in low-income, predominantly Black neighborhoods. The federal government charged Golubski in September with six counts of sexual assault and in November charged him and three other men with conspiring to hold young women in a condition of involuntary sexual servitude, according to US justice department news releases.

Golubski, who faces life in prison if convicted, has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The details that have emerged about the allegations against Golubski are shocking.